Why will the AIC not confirm what tests are done on imported grain?

Very good thread. We need answers to this and so far I have heard nothing from the NFU other than they are looking at it. Well they need to hurry up.

I had a very interesting conversation with someone who worked with one of the big supermarkets looking into their egg production and auditing the supply chain. He said a lot of the foreign assurance trails are a complete joke. Mass balance calculations were made up in South American countries he looked at. Soya that was meant to be certificated as having been produced sustainably basically had the certificates faked or someone paid off to give them real certificates when they didn't deserve them. They had ordinary wheat passing through an EU port and being relabelled as organic (a very lucrative laundering business for someone). I've heard that boats are loaded up with non-GM soya and GM soya into the same hold. As long as there are enough certificates for the non-GM portion to give to the buyer at the other end it doesn't matter what bit of the boat they are given. He said you really can't trust very much once you get away from our shores. Makes a mockery of the hoops we have to jump through.

To echo some of the comments, I will not be at all surprised if there really is very little testing that goes on at all. Some mills might think that there is, but I suspect when you go back down the chain the exact set of incentives already mentioned will apply. The less you test, the less you have to worry about.
 
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tullah

Member
Location
Linconshire
Very good thread. We need answers to this and so far I have heard nothing from the NFU other than they are looking at it. Well they need to hurry up.

I had a very interesting conversation with someone who worked with one of the big supermarkets looking into their egg production and auditing the supply chain. He said a lot of the foreign assurance trails are a complete joke. Mass balance calculations were made up in South American countries he looked at. Soya that was meant to be certificated as having been produced sustainably basically had the certificates faked or someone paid off to give them real certificates when they didn't deserve them. They had ordinary wheat passing through an EU port and being relabelled as organic (a very lucrative laundering business for someone). I've heard that boats are loaded up with non-GM soya and GM soya into the same hold. As long as there are enough certificates for the non-GM portion to give to the buyer at the other end it doesn't matter what bit of the boat they are given. He said you really can't trust very much once you get away from our shores. Makes a mockery of the hoops we have to jump through.

To echo some of the comments, I will not be at all surprised if there really is very little testing that goes on at all. Some mills might think that there is, but I suspect when you go back down the chain the exact set of incentives already mentioned will apply. The less you test, the less you have to worry about.
All good stuff being dredged up with more to come.
What an expensive joke the Nfu, RT and AIC are all having on us queuing to pay them our dues.
I can't think why a reputable union would put itself in a position to be guarantor to a dodgy assurance scheme.
 
This is the most ridiculous situation I see currently in farming. Red Tractor and Jim Moseley tell us that the mills prefer imported grain because of the "extensive testing", but no one will say what these tests are. If jim doesn't know then what he said will go down as one of the most idiotic things on record. However, Red Tractor claim they don't know when asked.

We have also asked AIC, Mills, and end users. No one seems to know the answer. AIC always pass the buck to the end user, but when you ask the end user they say it just comes with a certificate to say its been tested and they don't know the actual tests.

Someone has to be lying. AIC have to know the answer regardless if they set the rules or not. So question is why not just answer the question, unless its that embarrassing for instance:

That they only test 1kg from a 20,000 or 200,000 kg shipment or
Some bloke looks at in and says "that'll do"

What have the AIC got to hide or protect?

Please add your conspiracy theories below.....

NFU, AIC, RT and AHDB are all involved in the biggest con of farmers in history. They’ve created a situation where they are robbing and restricting British farmers they are supposed to be acting for, in favour of imports coming from places where there is zero assurance and illegal chemicals are used to grow the imported produce.

The real question is are those imports poisoning the U.K. consumer due to the illegal chemicals being used to grow them?
 

JP1

Member
Livestock Farmer
Very good thread. We need answers to this and so far I have heard nothing from the NFU other than they are looking at it. Well they need to hurry up.

I had a very interesting conversation with someone who worked with one of the big supermarkets looking into their egg production and auditing the supply chain. He said a lot of the foreign assurance trails are a complete joke. Mass balance calculations were made up in South American countries he looked at. Soya that was meant to be certificated as having been produced sustainably basically had the certificates faked or someone paid off to give them real certificates when they didn't deserve them. They had ordinary wheat passing through an EU port and being relabelled as organic (a very lucrative laundering business for someone). I've heard that boats are loaded up with non-GM soya and GM soya into the same hold. As long as there are enough certificates for the non-GM portion to give to the buyer at the other end it doesn't matter what bit of the boat they are given. He said you really can't trust very much once you get away from our shores. Makes a mockery of the hoops we have to jump through.

To echo some of the comments, I will not be at all surprised if there really is very little testing that goes on at all. Some mills might think that there is, but I suspect when you go back down the chain the exact set of incentives already mentioned will apply. The less you test, the less you have to worry about.
Needs to be a Sunday Times Insight investigation and report or Panorama on the Beeb
 

milkloss

Member
Livestock Farmer
Location
East Sussex
Probably the wrong thread but there seems to be so quite a bit on the subject........


have the NFU actually commented at all on the AIC problem?
 

Humble Village Farmer

Member
BASE UK Member
Location
Essex
AIC might have their rules but it's the individual mills and traders which are going to be found breaking the law.

Saying that "the AIC told us to do it" would not be a credible defence.
 
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Chris F

Staff Member
Media
Location
Hammerwich
Very good thread. We need answers to this and so far I have heard nothing from the NFU other than they are looking at it. Well they need to hurry up.

I had a very interesting conversation with someone who worked with one of the big supermarkets looking into their egg production and auditing the supply chain. He said a lot of the foreign assurance trails are a complete joke. Mass balance calculations were made up in South American countries he looked at. Soya that was meant to be certificated as having been produced sustainably basically had the certificates faked or someone paid off to give them real certificates when they didn't deserve them. They had ordinary wheat passing through an EU port and being relabelled as organic (a very lucrative laundering business for someone). I've heard that boats are loaded up with non-GM soya and GM soya into the same hold. As long as there are enough certificates for the non-GM portion to give to the buyer at the other end it doesn't matter what bit of the boat they are given. He said you really can't trust very much once you get away from our shores. Makes a mockery of the hoops we have to jump through.

To echo some of the comments, I will not be at all surprised if there really is very little testing that goes on at all. Some mills might think that there is, but I suspect when you go back down the chain the exact set of incentives already mentioned will apply. The less you test, the less you have to worry about.

Agreed - I can't see the point of lying unless as you say, the answer is very little or none.

As @JP1 this needs to be picked up in mainstream media or Panorama if the above it true. Unfortunately we seem to have lost journalism in our own industry and FW and FG just won't investigate and report on this as they should. Its a follow the money situation.
 

Chris F

Staff Member
Media
Location
Hammerwich
Thanks. I suppose that leads to the next question….
Have NFU Members asked them to look into it?

NFU have said they are "looking into it" - which is the political response used to delay and forget. Surely they can just ask and get the answers if they don't know. And they should know if supporting british ag is so big on their agenda and given the sponsored advertising all over Facebook, this is their main agenda right now.
 

Chris F

Staff Member
Media
Location
Hammerwich

Humble Village Farmer

Member
BASE UK Member
Location
Essex
specifically what legislative act covers that though? Is there really some legislation that prevents a business from imposing different requirements on raw materials sourced from different suppliers? I doubt it.
Still looking for the exact part of the law which makes this trading activity unfair and therefore illegal. But I'm pretty sure it's there somewhere.
 

SFI - What % were you taking out of production?

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Red Tractor drops launch of green farming scheme amid anger from farmers

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As reported in Independent


quote: “Red Tractor has confirmed it is dropping plans to launch its green farming assurance standard in April“

read the TFF thread here: https://thefarmingforum.co.uk/index.php?threads/gfc-was-to-go-ahead-now-not-going-ahead.405234/
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